Fifty-six cases of Korean nationals abducted or confined in job scam crimes in Cambodia were additionally reported in September, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told lawmakers Tuesday.
The disclosure came as Korea has been doubling down on responding to crimes targeting Koreans in Cambodia, such as online scams, following the torture and death of a Korean college student lured to a scam center in the Southeast Asian country.
With the September monthly figure, the total number of reports of Korean nationals being abducted or confined in the country reached 386, Cho told lawmakers of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee during a parliamentary audit.
When including the 220 cases reported last year, 102 cases still remain unresolved, he said.
Cho acknowledged that the ministry’s response measures, based on a traditional consular system, failed to cope with the sharp increase in transnational crimes, saying the ministry should have sought governmentwide efforts to counter such a trend.
He said the foreign ministry and the police will strengthen on-site coordination with Cambodian authorities and seek to dispatch more personnel to the country as part of such efforts.